Attachments
Situation in the DRC & Operational Context
• An influx of more than 500 refugees arrived into the villages of Bakoula, Kanga Mbanzi, and Lingoli 1 in the Ignié district in the Republic of the Congo after deadly clashes were reported between the government armed forces FARDC, and armed men in the vicinity of Ingana village (Maluku locality, Mai-Ndombé) on 27 December, resulting in the death of a local chief by decapitation and several seriously injured, according to local authorities in the Ignié District, Republic of the Congo. Village elders are calling for urgent help from the government and humanitarians as the newly arrived refugees were without food, shelter or medical care and have been accommodated in the local school by local families.
• Further deadly clashes in Nkana village (Kwamouth locality, DRC) between the FARDC and armed groups from the Yaka ethnic group on 8 December have led to the displacement of 300 more refugees from the DRC to the Ngabé district and Ignié districts in Pool department.
• Episodes of inter-communal clashes have been occurring in the Kwamouth locality, Mai-Ndombé province, in South-West Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), since June 2022.
• The total of Level 1 pre-registered refugees by the National Committee for Refugee Assistance (CNAR) and UNHCR stands at 4,616 (including 2,332 females and 2,284 males) as of 19 December. UNHCR is working with the CNAR to pre-register the 800 new refugees who have arrived in December.
• Of this pre-registered population, 51 per cent are women and girls and 51 per cent children, including 1,006 boys and 1,336 girls, and 10 per cent are identified as having specific needs. On the economic profile of the adult heads of households, 49 per cent report being farmers and 14 per cent worked in petty trade in the DRC, while 10 per cent state that fishing is their main occupation. Eight per cent state that they are students, and the remaining 19 per cent declare other occupations1 .